📸 PhotoPhoto: Simon Colenutt · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Habu
Protobothrops flavoviridis (Habu · ハブ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A typical length of about 130 cm is roughly the height of a lower-grade elementary school child (Comparison).
- 💡 A newsletter from the Okinawa Prefectural Institute of Health and Environment explains that the 242 cm Habu was caught on a residential road, and that areas around houses and fields with many rats make good habitat for the Habu.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Habu is a venomous snake living in Okinawa, a nocturnal snake that lives right alongside human living areas.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
A typical individual has a total length of about 130 cm and weighs 0.2–0.4 kg. A male caught in Onna Village in 2011 measured 242 cm and 2.9 kg, making it the longest confirmed Habu.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It is active at night, and about 90% of its diet consists of small mammals such as rats and musk shrews. Okinawa Prefecture notes that about 80% of Habu bite incidents happen within human living areas.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2018) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/96265495/96265515
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 4N4PF
- • iucnredlist.org — 96265515
- • wikidata.org — Q46112
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Protobothrops flavoviridis 285176627.jpg
- • pref.okinawa.jp — 23page1.pdf
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Beth Reinke · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Vipera berus)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.